morbidelli17
Sun 8/20/06, 8:46PM
"You look so much smoother and more confident out there. Why aren't we racing THIS bike?" - ZenSandy, watching me on Silver, my 2003 SV650S, at Keith Code school, October 2005.
"Time to retire this one and start racing the SV, dude." - Jeff Crago, Crago racing, March 2006, when the EX was being dragged back into his shop again ...
"You're still riding an EX? That's why you're not going good." - John Ulrich, editor, Roadracing World, April 2006.
"I think your bike needs to be to put down, Michael. It's seen better days." - Kurt Whittington being oh-so-diplomatic, June 2006.
OK, OK, OK.
Like water wearing away at stone, eventually good ideas sink into my granite-like skull. Time for a new race bike. I've just paid off the SV. And like every other bike I've paid off, the minute I get that pink slip in my name, I start thinking, "Man, this would look good with number plates ..."
But I've got a bunch of points in BOTT Light at Willow Springs, and I really like the people I race with. So I've got a 650cc bike and I want to race in a 500cc class.
Suddenly, and with a clarity typically associated with prescription-strength hallucinogenics, the answer comes to me:
Zoran.
A couple of emails, a not-unreasonable amount of money swapping hands, the transportation of an SV across state lines for immoral purposes, and the man with the accent performs an unnatural act on Silver.
And lo, I've got one of the most exclusive race bikes in the world, something that makes RC211s look like Civics. A fuel-injected SV500.
Some upgrades to the suspension, good brake pads, Hotbodies race 'glass with my trademark $8.98 paint job, and we're off to Willow.
Understand something: The motor here is stock except for the displacement. Stock cams, stock valves, stock pistons, stock cylinders. It is not a pocket rocket; as Monsterdood tells me at dinner Saturday night, "I don't think it's as fast as your EX was." And he's right; even with shorter-than stock gearing, it's barely getting into 6th in Turn Eight.
But on Saturday morning, I did something that I've never done before in years of racing. I went to the Dunlop tent and bought slicks. I've never had this opportunity before; I've never had a race bike with wheels in sizes they make slicks for. Dennis Smith, the Dunlop guy, tells me, "The side grip is going to be like nothing you've ever felt before. You can fold that sidewall over the rim, and it'll stick."
So on blind faith, I go out there and stick it into Turn Two and pin the throttle. And it - just goes around the corner. I start doing stupid things with the throttle; and the tires - stick. I freak myself out in Turn Two when something hits the ground, and I realize - it's my boot. By the end of the day Saturday, I've realized that I'm not going to win any drag races with this thing, but I'm carrying a SHITLOAD more corner speed than I'm used to. I've got knee, peg and boot on the ground, and the thing just sticks. The problem is, I still suck in Turn Five, and I no longer have the power to make up for that on the back straight. And if I get stuck behind someone who parks it in the corners but has horsepower, my lap times are screwed.
First race, 550 Superbike: After a brief tussle at the back of the pack, I hook up with a guy on an SV650 and we race for like five laps, nose-to-tail, me learning my new bike, he re-learning Big Willow. Nothing like clean, clear track to let you push your limits. I finish way down, just as I'd expected, but I'm thrilled to see my fast lap time: Nearly a full second quicker than I've ever gone in 12 years at Willow - and that old mark was on a bike that made 10 more horsepower.
BOTT Light: I said this thing wouldn't win any drag races. It didn't. Larry Cochran got ahead of me on his Ascot, Monsterdood tucks in behind Larry, and I'm thinking, OK, no prob, just go
around the outside of them in Two. Then someone else on an EX comes past, and he and Larry start dicing, and I can't use my big sweeping lines and I'm watching Chris head off into the distance.
Crap.
I get by Larry, then I pass Thomas, and I can still see Monsterdood in the distance. Unbelieveably, in two laps, I close the gap and draft past him into the lead heading into the last lap. But he gets me back in Three, and he just has me completely covered in Five. He gaps me there and the race is over; I can't make up the distance in the time left. Margin at line: 0.14 seconds - the same margin I beat him by in, I think, March.
Second place sucks. But a trophy for second is better than none. I'm thrilled at my first taste of a modern bike in race conditions and modern tires. I dragged knee in places I never did before. I went faster than I ever have. And ZenSandy looks HOT as an umbrella girl.
"Time to retire this one and start racing the SV, dude." - Jeff Crago, Crago racing, March 2006, when the EX was being dragged back into his shop again ...
"You're still riding an EX? That's why you're not going good." - John Ulrich, editor, Roadracing World, April 2006.
"I think your bike needs to be to put down, Michael. It's seen better days." - Kurt Whittington being oh-so-diplomatic, June 2006.
OK, OK, OK.
Like water wearing away at stone, eventually good ideas sink into my granite-like skull. Time for a new race bike. I've just paid off the SV. And like every other bike I've paid off, the minute I get that pink slip in my name, I start thinking, "Man, this would look good with number plates ..."
But I've got a bunch of points in BOTT Light at Willow Springs, and I really like the people I race with. So I've got a 650cc bike and I want to race in a 500cc class.
Suddenly, and with a clarity typically associated with prescription-strength hallucinogenics, the answer comes to me:
Zoran.
A couple of emails, a not-unreasonable amount of money swapping hands, the transportation of an SV across state lines for immoral purposes, and the man with the accent performs an unnatural act on Silver.
And lo, I've got one of the most exclusive race bikes in the world, something that makes RC211s look like Civics. A fuel-injected SV500.
Some upgrades to the suspension, good brake pads, Hotbodies race 'glass with my trademark $8.98 paint job, and we're off to Willow.
Understand something: The motor here is stock except for the displacement. Stock cams, stock valves, stock pistons, stock cylinders. It is not a pocket rocket; as Monsterdood tells me at dinner Saturday night, "I don't think it's as fast as your EX was." And he's right; even with shorter-than stock gearing, it's barely getting into 6th in Turn Eight.
But on Saturday morning, I did something that I've never done before in years of racing. I went to the Dunlop tent and bought slicks. I've never had this opportunity before; I've never had a race bike with wheels in sizes they make slicks for. Dennis Smith, the Dunlop guy, tells me, "The side grip is going to be like nothing you've ever felt before. You can fold that sidewall over the rim, and it'll stick."
So on blind faith, I go out there and stick it into Turn Two and pin the throttle. And it - just goes around the corner. I start doing stupid things with the throttle; and the tires - stick. I freak myself out in Turn Two when something hits the ground, and I realize - it's my boot. By the end of the day Saturday, I've realized that I'm not going to win any drag races with this thing, but I'm carrying a SHITLOAD more corner speed than I'm used to. I've got knee, peg and boot on the ground, and the thing just sticks. The problem is, I still suck in Turn Five, and I no longer have the power to make up for that on the back straight. And if I get stuck behind someone who parks it in the corners but has horsepower, my lap times are screwed.
First race, 550 Superbike: After a brief tussle at the back of the pack, I hook up with a guy on an SV650 and we race for like five laps, nose-to-tail, me learning my new bike, he re-learning Big Willow. Nothing like clean, clear track to let you push your limits. I finish way down, just as I'd expected, but I'm thrilled to see my fast lap time: Nearly a full second quicker than I've ever gone in 12 years at Willow - and that old mark was on a bike that made 10 more horsepower.
BOTT Light: I said this thing wouldn't win any drag races. It didn't. Larry Cochran got ahead of me on his Ascot, Monsterdood tucks in behind Larry, and I'm thinking, OK, no prob, just go
around the outside of them in Two. Then someone else on an EX comes past, and he and Larry start dicing, and I can't use my big sweeping lines and I'm watching Chris head off into the distance.
Crap.
I get by Larry, then I pass Thomas, and I can still see Monsterdood in the distance. Unbelieveably, in two laps, I close the gap and draft past him into the lead heading into the last lap. But he gets me back in Three, and he just has me completely covered in Five. He gaps me there and the race is over; I can't make up the distance in the time left. Margin at line: 0.14 seconds - the same margin I beat him by in, I think, March.
Second place sucks. But a trophy for second is better than none. I'm thrilled at my first taste of a modern bike in race conditions and modern tires. I dragged knee in places I never did before. I went faster than I ever have. And ZenSandy looks HOT as an umbrella girl.